THE WORD BECAME FLESH

Tuesday of 33^rd week in Ordinary time, 2021

2Macc 6:18-31

Ps 3

Luke 16 19:1-10

Salvation has come to this house

Whatever else can be said about Zacchaeus, we can certainly say of him that he was a seeker, a searcher. 

The gospel reading says that ‘he was anxious to see what kind of man Jesus was. In his search to know Jesus, he was prepared, quite literally, to go out on a limb, the limb of a tree. This would have been considered a rather undignified place to be for a man of his status. Zacchaeus does something extravagant in order to see Jesus, to come to know him. In the course of his search he discovered that the one he was searching for was also searching for him. ‘I must stay at your house today’, said Jesus who came to seek out and to save the lost. Zacchaeus who was searching discovered that he was the object of a greater search. 

When Zacchaeus then offered Jesus hospitality, he also discovered that a greater hospitality was being offered to him, the hospitality of God through Jesus. ‘Today, salvation has come to his house, because this man too is a son of Abraham’. Zacchaeus belonged to God’s people; there was room for him at God’s table, in spite of the murmuring of the crowd. The story we have just heard reminds us all that our movement towards God is always overshadowed by God’s movement towards us. When we take a small step towards the Lord, we discover that he has already taken a giant step towards us.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, come and stay with me. Fill my life with your peace, my home with your presence and my heart with your praise. Amen.